And the Beat Goes On
by EreshkigalGirl
Summary: I know, I know. "Another 'Pride and Prejudice' redo?" Yes. The first chapter's short, so give me a chance to prove myself.
1. Mr Bingly

Hello, there! Yes, I know this is such an old sitch. "Oh, _P&P_ retold, _again_?" is what you're thinking. I know. Try my version. That's all I ask. If you don't like it, you don't have to come back.

Disclaimer: Jane Austen's been dead for almost 200 years, but the characters are still copywrited. Damn.

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"Good morning! Time to get up!"

Elizabeth Bennet spun from side to side in her swivel-chair, using her half-removed sneaker to propel her back and forth. She spoke into the microphone, her lips curved up in a cheerfully teasing grin, even if her listeners to the MKW 101.3 morning show couldn't see it. She'd been up since five, and had been at work for over two hours now. If she had to be awake, so did they.

"I know, I know. It's early." Privately, she basked in the fact that she didn't have to dress up for work, like some people did. She was in jeans, a sports bra, some tube socks, and an over sized T-shirt. She'd brushed her teeth, gotten a huge cup of coffee, and then headed to work just as the sun had started to turn the horizon a pale, baby blue. "But hey, since when did anybody's boss care about waking people up early? I've been here since six. It's now…8:02, so you'd better be at work, or at least on your way. How about this? I'll play you one by The Bengals, and you just concentrate on your driving, okay? After we get back, I may just have a surprise for you."

Lizzy switched on the track of _Manic Monday—_unfortunately apt—before she took off the ear-phones, pushed back the desk, and peered through the glass window at her producer and best friend, Charlotte. 'Is he here yet?' she mouthed through the glass. Charlotte nodded, which made her long brown ponytail bob in back of her head. With a smile added, she jabbed her thumb toward the door and nodded suggestively. 'He's hot!'

_Manic Monday_ faded out to be replaced by the more recent song by U2, _Vertigo_. The door to Charlotte's little work space opened to admit a blond, muscular—but not _too_ muscular—young man who was, at most, in his early thirties. This was not what Lizzy had been expecting. She'd been expecting a balding, bloated forty-something year old with the face of a dried prune. This guy was not a prune. This guy looked as good as chocolate. In fact, if this guy had _been_ a piece of chocolate, he would have been made by Godiva.

Lizzy's initial friendly, welcoming smile broadened into one of real interest and a little appreciation for physical beauty while the man—on the memo she'd received, it said that his name was C. Bingly—shook hands with Charlotte in the producer's box. He then turned to look across the studio to where Lizzy stood, waiting for her interview. He returned her bright smile with one of his own as Charlotte opened the door that connected her space to the main room where the DJ's did the broadcasting from. Although his smile was dimmer in the flirtatious aspects, no one could claim that it wasn't open and friendly.

"Hello," he greeted Lizzy, extending his hand to shake. "I'm Charles Bingly, from D&D Inc. It's very nice to meet you, Miss Bennet."

She smiled at his thick Southern accent that, she was sure, would taste like the butter they put on popcorn at the movies. "It's nice to meet you, too, and please call me Lizzy."

"Liz!" Charlotte called from the control room. "You're back on in fifteen seconds."

Elizabeth thanked her, and showed "You can call me Charlie" how to use the guest headphones and mike. Lizzy put her own headset back on and situated herself in her chair, with one faded blue denim-clad leg folded under. Charlotte's voice came through the speakers in her earphones, "You're on again in 3, 2, 1."

"Hey, welcome back everyone," Lizzy greeted her listeners. "I promised you a surprise, and here he is. For weeks now, the rumors have been flying that MKW was being sold." She let out a dramatic sigh. "Alas, it's true. Everyone take a moment to think good thoughts about Mr. Barnes, who, after over forty years, is retiring.

"The station is now owned by D&D, Incorporated. You've never heard of them, you say. Neither have I. Here with me today is," she picked up the memo about her guest and read off, "the Chairman of Public Relations, Charles Bingly."

Lizzy silently motioned for him to say something, adding an encouraging smile. Like all first-timers, Charlie blushed a little, and leaned too close to the microphone, as if that would make him any clearer. "Um…hello."

"So Charlie, I'm still going to have my job next week, right?" Lizzy teased.

"Oh, yes!" Charlie assured her, quite serious. "We don't have any plans on firing anyone. As far as I know, the two co-presidents of D&D are more than pleased with everyone and everything that this station has to offer. That is, after all, why they made the decision to buy it."

"Ah, but buying a company, promising that hardly anything, if anything_ at all_, will change, and then firing most of the employees in order to hire new ones that never worked under the old regime is common practice in the business world, isn't it?"

She'd caught him off guard with that one. Lizzy tried to soften it with a smile, but Charlie still looked taken aback. "W-Well, that may be true, but I can almost guarantee that won't be the case here."

"Well, I hope not." Lizzy took pity on him and changed the subject. "How about you tell us about D&D, Inc. Like I said, most of us in Massachusetts have never heard of you."

Charlie warmed back up to this topic and introduced the Atlanta based company to the people in the suburbs of Boston. D&D, Inc had been founded in 1906, had survived the stock market crash, and was looking toward the future. The company had started out in textiles, then converted the factories into steel mills during each World War in order to make weapons and tanks, and was currently branching out into cybernetics, microtechnology—

"And radio stations, apparently," Lizzy added.

A grin brightened Charlie's face. "And radio stations. Along with a TV station in Maryland and two other radio stations in New York and Philadelphia."

Charlotte came over the headset again and reminded them that they had twenty seconds to wrap up the interview.

"Alright, looks like we're going to have to cut this one off. It was nice having you in, Charlie. I look forward to maybe seeing you around."

"I hope so, too."

"Thanks. And here's a word from our sponsors." Lizzy rolled the commercials. She took her headset off and nodded for Charlie to do the same. Both stood. "Well, Charlie, it really was nice meeting you."

They shook hands again, but before Charlie could say a word, his stomach growled loudly at him. He flushed. Lizzy giggled and tried to look sympathetic. "I skipped breakfast," Charlie explained. "I usually have something to eat, but today…with this…and then I have a meeting right after to settle the lease on the building we're going to put the Merriton offices in…I just didn't have time."

"It's fine. Everybody's stomach does it at some point," she excused him. A second later, her eyes lit up when a thought occurred. "What side of town is your meeting on?"

"Over near the west edge," Charlie told her. "We're leasing Netherfield Manor for the company offices. In fact, that's also where I'll be living during my stay here."

"My sister owns a café on the west side of town, down on Maplewood Street," Lizzy plugged. "She has great coffee, and what I'm convinced are the world's best muffins. Around eleven they start selling lunch specials. You could stop in there before or after your meeting."

He gave her his sunshine grin again. "I may just do that. It was very nice meeting you, Miss Bennet."

"Lizzy," she reminded him.

"Lizzy," he agreed. They shook hands a final time, and then Charlie went to do the same to pay the same respects to Charlotte. In another minute, he was gone.

After the door shut behind him, Charlotte craned her head into the broadcasting room. The look on her face—mouth hanging open, eyes closed in imagined ecstasy and then opened wide in excited shock—extracted a similar one from Lizzy. They shared the sounds, for no lexicographer would accept those as actual words, that two females make when confronted by an attractive male.

"Oh my _god_, he is so hot!" Charlotte exclaimed. "And you just sent him over to your sister."

Lizzy's smile faded. Maybe recommending _Jane's_ hadn't been the best move.

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For those of you who've read the book one or two too many times and noticed that Merriton is in fact spelled "Meryton", I can say that I didn't mean to do that, but that "Merriton" looks like a more American spelling of, anyway.


	2. The Bennets, Longbourn Ave

Thank you to everybody who reviewed. I got such support! It makes me feel all warm and glowy inside. I love you all!

This chapter is mostly just introducing the Bennet family. Darcy will be coming probably in chapter 4. Sorry to make everybody wait. Hey! In the original, he doesn't show up for at least that long, anyway. Besides, absence makes the heart grow fonder!

-_nebula_: Hello again. I didn't write Jane Austen before this, so you were right in thinking that I didn't. This just kept nagging me to write it, and so I said, "Fine!" And no, I'm not leaving Pirate Princess. In fact, Felsong and I are almost at the big fight scene. I don't think she'd let me leave it. Besides, I like Ezra and Alec, and we're so close to the end and a bit of fluffiness. Couldn't leave it if I wanted to.

-_Sheyana_: Darcy's coming! Stop banging your head on the desk! You'll cause brain damage!

-_keeleyann_: Thank you. Strangely, I get that people "like my style" a lot. I get "quirky" a lot, too.

-_LoKi-iNsPiReD_: You pointed and stared! That's never happened to me before! I'm so flattered. I hope you like it.

DISCALIMER: Do I have to do this every chapter. Just see the one before. Oh, and add the Ford and VW car companies, and whoever makes Chapstick onto that.

Elizabeth's shift at MKW 101.3 was over at 12:00. She drove back to the apartment she shared with her older sister—a whole two minutes that Jane would never let her forget—to take a shower and change clothes into some nice jeans, a dark, maroony pink blouse, and a light, khaki-colored summer business jacket. And shoes. Those too. She never bothered with a purse. They got stolen too easily, so she just shoved her wallet and some Chapstick into her pocket.

She checked the mirror to make sure she didn't look too mismatched, and went to do did her weekly stop at home to make sure that her younger sisters weren't driving her father into complete seclusion. Poor Robert Bennet. He worked from his office at home, so he practically lived in his office, and, if he wanted to have some free time, he stayed in his office and read the paper. If Lizzy didn't come to pull him into the real world every once in a while, she was worried her old man might just let himself mold over.

The Bennet's had moved to Longbourn Avenue after Mr. Bennet had decided to open his own accountancy firm and needed the extra space, back when Lizzy and Jane were five, Mary and Kitty were both barely one, and Lydia was still in the oven. Lizzy could barely remember the first house, but she was pretty sure she liked the one on Longbourn better.

"Hey!" She pushed the door open and called inside. "Mom? Girls? Daddy?"

Kitty and Lydia thundered down the stairs from their room. "Lizzy!" "E-liz-a-_beth_!"

They both lived at home and went to the local university. Lydia was a freshman, and Kitty was the more experienced sophomore, although you'd never notice it by the way the older girl followed her little sister around like an energetic puppy. They looked more like the twins that Kitty and Mary were. They had on matching short skirts that looked like decorative icing on cake, and about as substantial as a spider web. Lydie wore a pink T-shirt with hers, and Kitty was in a blue one. They skidded and stumbled to a halt at the bottom of the stair to face their older sister, equal looks of excitement on their faces.

"Lizzy," Lydie gasped out, pushing her "blonde" hair out of her mouth. "We heard the show this morning. That guy you had on—was he as hot as he sounded!"

"Oooh! You have to tell us, Lizzy, we're just dieing!" Kitty squealed.

Lizzy sighed. You could always count on these two to keep their minds on the important things in life. "If you must know, yes, he was very good looking. He was also really smart, and," the thought had occurred to her on the drive to the house, "a little too earnest for his own good, I think."

"Whatever," Lydia said, literally brushing aside her sisters last words. "He's hot. And, hey! I'm legal now! Woo-hoo! So, do you think you could set us up, or something?"

"Hey! I'm older! I should get first dibbs!" Kitty protested.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes. "Not even in your wildest dreams, Lyd. _Yours_, either. Where's Daddy?"

"Where is he _usually_?" Kitty asked, her tone implying that it should be obvious. Which it was. The two girls went off to…do whatever it was they did instead of studying or getting jobs. Probably gossip. Heaven forbid those two ever move out of calling distance.

"I'll see you girls later." Lizzy walked to the door of her father's home office. She'd reached out to the doorknob when Mary, dressed in jeans that were too high waisted and too long, and a tacky sweater, drifted distractedly into the front hall. As usual, she was looking down into one of the textbooks she was reading for one of her classes at college. "Hi, Mar," Lizzy called out.

Mary looked up through her long, dark bangs and glasses—bookish wire rims and thin lenses, a glare from the gaudy electric chandelier overhead hid her brown eyes—as if she was startled to see her sister there. "Oh. Hello, Elizabeth. What are you doing here? Don't you have an apartment of your own?"

"I'm just here visiting Dad, Mary," she assured her little sister. "How's school?"

"Good," Mary answered. "I've decided to change my major from international relations to business law. Unfortunately I need to make up several credit hours in order to do so, but I've decided to take summer classes, anyway, so I'll just fill those in there." She began to resume her stride toward the kitchen, probably to get an apple, or a peanut butter sandwich—brain food. She stopped, and turned back to her sister. "Oh! And how are you?"

"Fine, Mar." Lizzy smiled. People accused Mary of being self-absorbed, but it was more like she just forgot that there was a world outside of her own head sometimes. "I'll see you later."

"Later."

Lizzy turned back to the door. As she turned the knob, she used her other hand to knock, quietly. She could hear her fathers voice from inside. She craned her neck to peek in. Mr. Bennet was dressed in a brown, semi-casual business suit; his iron gray hair trimmed military perfect, and a professionally grim look on his face. One foot, shod in a matching brown loafer over a brown sock, was propped up on the corner of his desk while he talked on the phone. It was one of his clients. The moment he saw her, his face brightened a few degrees and he waved her inside. Lizzy smiled, came inside, and shut the door behind her.

"Yeah…Mm-hmm. No, no, it's got to be sooner than that. If you wait any longer— Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Okay, then. No, that's fine. Yes, tomorrow at two. Down Lincoln, left on Maplewood, then right onto Orchard, right? Yeah, I'll meet you there. No, don't worry, I'll bring the calculator. Mm'bye." He dropped his foot back to the floor and hung up.

"How are you, Lizzy? Come to make sure I'm still alive since last week?" he teased.

"I'm fine, Dad," she assured him. She walked to his desk and bent to give the old man a hug. He wrapped her in a seated bear hug and thumped her back. They pulled apart, and Lizzy took a seat on one of the edge of her father's desk. "And I figured you were still alive. Mom would have called me and Jane up to tell us if you weren't. I was just worried that you might have had a nervous breakdown in the meantime. She'd _never_ have noticed _that_."

He chuckled. "Only too true, I'm afraid." Mr. Bennet cleared his throat and became serious again. "Now, I heard you on the radio this morning, talking with some young man about your station being bought by someone or other. _Are_ you going to have your job next week?"

"I think so." She shrugged. "He sounded sincere enough. I don't think that, if D&D Inc. is going to fire the lot of us, _he_ knew anything about it yet, anyway. Of course, they might not tell him until the day they do it that the lot of us are getting sacked. You know how those business types are."

"So!" she hopped off the desk and took a seat in one of the client chairs. "Anything new in business?"

Mr. Bennet's face flushed. He took off his glasses to clean them with a handkerchief he pulled from inside the breast pocket of his jacket. "Er…um…I, well…uh…"

"Daddy?" she wheedled.

"I've decided to take a partner." He announced gruffly, and resettled his glasses on his nose.

"Daddy!" Elizabeth leaned forward in the seat. "I can't believe you. You always said you were perfectly capable of doing your own business. Now you're taking a partner? Have you held interviews? Did you have a specific person in mind? Are you going to move your office out of the house?"

"Lizzy, Lizzy, hon, slow down," he said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "One of my old friends from college has a son a bit older than you. He worked for a firm for a while, and is looking to branch out. I called and offered to take him as my partner, and then pass my clients over to him when I retire."

"Retire!" Now Lizzy was really confused. "Aren't you the man who always swore that you'd never retire? Besides, I know you. You really will go nuts if you have to stay in this house with three girls—plus Mom!"

Her father sat in his chair and laughed. "You're memory's too good for your health, sometimes, Elizabeth. I'll have to retire eventually. I will! When I do, I'll…find a hobby. I'll build model airplanes, or put tiny ships into only slightly larger bottles. Don't you worry about me, honey. I'll be fine."

Lizzy didn't know about that, but she couldn't think of anything to say. After all, he was a grown man, and he'd been taking care of himself for longer than she'd been around to make sure he did.

The door was flung open. Lizzy and Mr. Bennet jumped and turned to see who was at the door.

"Elizabeth Chloe Bennet! You come home, say hello to everybody in the house, but you don't bother to come say hello to your own mother?"

Lizzy smiled and had the grace to look down in apparent shame. Really, she wanted to make sure that Pattie Bennet didn't see that she wanted to laugh. She cleared her throat and looked back up at her mom. "Sorry. I wanted to make sure poor Daddy wasn't working too hard. I was going to come see you before I went to have lunch over at Janie's café."

Mrs. Bennet sniffed, not having a rebuttal handy for that. She plopped her hands on her wide hips and worked hard to keep the scowl drift on her face. "Yes, well…You should have come and seen me first, instead of interrupting you father while he's working."

Lizzy looked over her shoulder at her dad. They shared a look, and Lizzy silently apologized. "I'll talk to you later, Dad."

"Alright, my dear." He stood up and stretched. "Rrrrr. I have to get going anyhow. I'm meeting a client at his home over on the east side of town. He's trying to see if he can dip into his savings to buy a new car. The man's almost sixty for Chrissake. I don't know what he wants with a new car."

Lizzy and her mother walked Mr. Bennet to the front door. He assured his wife that he would be home before three. Dinner time, at the latest. He had his answering machine on in the office, so just let the phone ring is someone happened to call. Then he got into the same Ford two door that he'd driven since 1996 and drove off.

"So, Elizabeth," her mother resumed their conversation as she ushered her daughter back into the house, "Lydia and Kitty tell me that you had a man on your show today. Did he ask you out?"

"What? No!" Lizzy couldn't believe her mother was so superficial. "He mostly talked about the company he works for that just bought the station, and he said that he was renting the old Netherfield place as the offices for the company…and then I sent him over to _Jane's_(1) to get breakfast. Simple as that."

Patricia Bennet flipped her over-styled hair over her shoulder and nodded. "Well, good. At least Jane knows how to keep a man in the same room as her."

"And speaking of Jane, I'm going to go get my lunch now," Lizzy announced, and headed for the door.

"Lizzy!"

"Bye, Mom. I'll talk to you later."

And with that, Lizzy hurried out of her house and down to her waiting green VW Bug. Every time she went back to visit she was reminded why she had been so eager to leave in the first place.

(1) Just so it's clear, _Jane's_ is the name of Jane's café. She named it after herself. It gives it an intimate feel, and Jane is nothing if not a savvy entrepreneur. At least, she is now. She probably could have been in the original, but women in the early 1800's weren't allowed to do much outside the home.


	3. Mr Darcy

Hello, everyone! I'm so glad you all came back. I don't have anything individual to say, just that I'm glad you all gave me a chance, and I promise to try to keep to the spirit of Jane Austen, although that does mean that some of the sequencing might be off. A promise and a warning all rolled up into one. Aren't I talented?

DISCLAIMER: not mine. None of it. Not a thing.

CHAPTER 3

Lizzy walked into _Jane's, _accompanied by a jingle of the bell hung from the top of the glass door, at just after two fifteen. Jane herself stood behind the counter and chatted with an elderly couple who sat at the counter with mugs of tea and sandwiches that Jane and her assistance made daily. She looked up as her twin sister came into the café and flashed a smile. Lizzy grinned back and walked over to the counter.

Jane got up later than Lizzy did, so it was always a surprise to see what she'd picked out to wear on a given day. Today Jane was dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a blue polo shirt. As usual, she wore little make-up, but that didn't make her any less beautiful. Her near-black hair, which she and Mary shared, was pulled up high on her head, the elastic band that held it made a make-shift bun. Lizzy and the other girls had inherited the more caramel brown from their mother's side of the family. Oh, the complexities of fraternal twins.

"Hiya, Lizzy! I heard your show today," Jane greeted her. "Good to hear that they're not planning on firing you."

"Hey. And yeah, that's what they said. I'm still waiting to see if they're telling the truth." Lizzy sat down at the corner of the counter and propped her chin up on her elbows. "You heard, huh? So, has he stopped in yet?"

"Who?"

"Charlie," she said. "Bingly. The guy who was on the show. I told him about this place, and he said he might shop by."

Jane shook her head, and reached for a mug to put Lizzy's Crème Brúlee. "No. I haven't noticed anyone but the usual customers."

"Trust me," Lizzy smirked at her sister, "if he had come in, you would have noticed."

Jane handed Elizabeth her caramely-flavored coffee and shared in the smile. Lizzy took the coffee, and chatted with her friends in the café. It was a short, companionable hour and a half that passed in the little coffee shop in Merriton, Massachusetts, just an our outside of Boston. It almost went unnoticed when a sleek, sophisticated black town car rolled down the street in front of _Jane's_.

Lizzy rested her head in her right palm, her elbow propped up on the clean white counter, and listened to the smooth jazz that played quietly in the background. The Mercedes glided to a stately stop in front of the café. Her eyebrows rose. A man in a black suit got out from the drivers side and went to the back. He opened the back doors and out scooted Charles Bingly in the same blue business suit from that morning. Lizzy grinned.

"Jane. Jane!" Lizzy turned back to her sister and called her attention. "Janey! Outside. It's that guy, Charlie."

Jane raised her eyebrow and turned her head to look out the window. Lizzy watched her twin's face when she saw Charlie. Jane stopped moving. She held a coffee pot in one hand and stood, watching out the front windows of the café. Her lips parted a bit, and Lizzy was close enough to see the expectant glitter that came into Jane's eyes.

"Nice?" Lizzy asked, teasingly.

"Very nice," Jane agreed. Her forehead creased slightly. "Who's the other guy?"

"What other guy?" Lizzy asked, and spun around on her stool to look back out the window. There was indeed a second man who had gotten out of the car behind Charlie. He was just slightly taller than Charlie, but only by a scant inch or so. It was hardly noticeable, and he had a look about him, almost military; not quite so rigid, but with the same control and amazingly good posture. Dark hair was cut close to his head, very neat and proper. No facial hair, and not a wrinkle—either in his skin, or in his black business suit, from what she could see. He wore a pair of classic Rayban sunglasses, but she wouldn't have been able to see what color his eyes were at that distance, anyway. Lizzy guessed that they were brown.

"Dunno," Lizzy admitted. "Maybe he's somebody else that works at D&D, Inc with Charlie, and he decided to bring him along to check out the town."

"Mm." Jane was zoned out on the handsome, blond male that continued to make his way to the front door of the café.

The other guy paused on his way to the door, which made Charlie stop and turn around. The dark haired one reached inside of his jacket and pulled out a sleek little cell phone. He flipped it open and started to talk to whoever had called him. Charlie crossed his arms over his chest and looked bored, but not overly irritated. This must be something that happened often to both of them in their professions.

Mr. Tall-Dark-and-Handsome waved at Charlie in the universal sign for "go on in, I'll catch up in a minute." Charlie dropped his hands back to his sides, and finally made it to the door. The girls quickly swiveled around and pretended to have been talking the entire time when the bell at the top of the door dinged when the new customer entered.

Lizzy craned her neck around to see over her shoulder. "Hey! So you did take me up on the recommendation."

Charlie blinked after coming from the bright afternoon sunlight into the dimmer atmosphere of _Jane's_ _Café_. Once his eyes adjusted, he found Lizzy at the counter and smiled at her. He strolled over, taking in the scenery of the café as he went, and sat down in the seat next to her. "Hello, Miss Bennet. It's nice to see you again."

Lizzy smiled. She could be very happy listening to him talk with that slow, lazy, Deep South accent all day. But since that wasn't an option, "I told you, it's Lizzy. And this is my sister. Charlie, meet Jane Bennet. Janey, this is Charles Bingly, who was on the show with me this morning."

Jane smiled at him, and offered her hand to shake. Charlie stared at her for a beat, then cleared his throat and took her hand delicately in his. "Nice to meet you. You have a very nice place here, Jane."

"Well, thank you very much," Jane said, and widened her smile in approval.

Elizabeth couldn't help but sigh. She had been correcting Charlie all morning, but within a few seconds he was already calling Jane by her first name. Wasn't it always the way? She listened halfheartedly as Jane took Charlie's order for a club sandwich and a bowl of vegetable soup. Lizzy's eyes went back out the window to where the other man still talked on his phone. Now he was leaned back against the door of the black car. He matched his transportation, Lizzy noticed. She doubted he'd planned to do that. From here, he didn't seem the type to worry about such things.

"Um, Charlie?" she asked. "Is your friend coming in, or not?"

Charlie swiveled around on his stool to look out the window at the other man. "Oh, I'm sure Darcy'll be in here any minute."

"Darcy?" Lizzy asked. "That's a strange name for a man."

"Well, it's his last name," Charlie explained. "No body calls him by his first name, at least that I can think of. Even his little sister uses a nickname for him."

"You two are close, then?"

"College roommates, frat brothers, and now I work for him," Charlie answered with a proud nod and smile.

"Wait a sec," Jane interjected. She had a slight frown between her brows. "Darcy? You said his name is Darcy? As in, one of the D's in D&D, Inc? _That_ Darcy?"

"Yes, ma'am." He nodded.

"_He's_ the guy that bought the station!" Lizzy exclaimed. She spun around to look out at the man who now looked to be arguing into his cell.

"It was the company that bought the station," Charlie corrected, "but yeah, that's your new boss. The other D," he smiled at Jane's phrasing, "Ms. De Bourgh, is down in Maryland at the moment. She's supposed to be coming up here in a few months, but that's still up in the air."

"Uh-huh." Lizzy started fanatically cleaning beneath her fingernails while she thought of what to say to the man when he walked in.

"Lizzy." She turned at Jane's call. "Come and help me back here, would you? I gave Sandy an early break, and now I need an extra pair of hands." Which was code for: Come and talk to me before you have a nervous break down.

"Sure, Jane." Lizzy got up and sidled behind the counter, then followed her sister through the **Employees Only** door that led back to the kitchen.

The door swung shut behind her. Jane placed her hands on Lizzy's shoulders. "Remember, nothing at the station is going to change. You're not getting fired. Be nice, and don't freak out."

Lizzy nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's just…this guy _bought_ the station, Janey. And a matching pair in New York and Philadelphia. That's…well, it's a little intimidating, even for me."

Jane made her eyes wide and feigned shock. "You! Intimidated?"

"I said 'a little'," Lizzy defended herself, and smiled.

"Well, just so long as it's only a little," Jane said. A horn honked outside the back door. Jane turned to look at the clock above the stove. "Good, right on time. For once." She turned back to Elizabeth. "And now you can help me get the coffee beans and artificial sugar inside."

"Oh, goody."

Jane smirked at her, and the two of them went out to get the first load of boxes. They loaded them on the dolly Jane kept in a closet and brought the boxes inside. While the older twin put the new supplies in their proper places, she had Lizzy put some more sugar packets into the containers outside.

She reached to push the metal panel on the swinging door that would lead back out front, but stopped when she heard Charlie taking to someone. Someone with a deep voice, and a Southern accent that was just a shade deeper than Charlie's own.

"_You_ chose this place, not me. Don't complain if you haven't gotten served your food yet. These small town business run on their own schedule."

"I haven't been waiting that long," Charlie said. "And I've been talking to the owner. She's really nice."

Lizzy shook her head and smiled.

"Charlie…" the other man warned, "this better not interfere with work."

"Don't be ridiculous." He sounded annoyed. "I said that she was nice, I didn't say that we're running off to Las Vegas to get married. And Elizabeth Bennet, from MKW, is here. She's the one that recommended we stop here. Her sister is the owner."

"Nepotism," Darcy mumbled, just loud enough for Lizzy to hear through the door. "Wait, you mean that shock jock from the radio this morning?"

_Shock jock!_

"She's not Howard Stern, Darcy. Really, you haven't even met her yet."

"I think I got a good impression of her this morning," Darcy answered. "She seemed to think she knew everything, and enjoyed putting words into other people's mouth."

"Lizzy?" Jane asked when she saw her sister hadn't gone out yet.

Elizabeth sent her sister a look over her shoulder to where Jane stood up on a step ladder to put away an extra package of sugar into the cabinet. Lizzy waved and pushed through the door. She made sure that there was a smile on her face when she came face to face with her new boss, several times removed. She'd been right. He had brown eyes.

"You must be Mr. Darcy."

His eyes widened surprised. Lizzy widened her smile. She wasn't nearly as intimidated of this narrow minded, stuck up prick as she had been a minute ago. Lizzy replaced the dwindling supply of sugar packets into the ceramic container. "So, how do you like _Jane's_?"

He cleared his throat and reached up to straighten his tie. "It's very nice. You're…the owner?"

"No." Lizzy shook her head and chuckled a little. "No, I'm the shock jock."

Charlie made a little chocking noise in his throat. Darcy's eyebrows went up, and he opened his mouth to say something. Nothing came out. He fiddled with his tie again as he took a minute to form a response. "Most people don't eavesdrop once they become adults."

Lizzy smirked in silence. Jane walked through the swinging door behind her, and both men looked up. Elizabeth looked over her shoulder, then leaned forward to rest her hip on the counter. Her sister gave her a discreet, questioning glance, and then focused her attention on her customers.

"Your order will be out in a minute, Charlie. And you must be Mr. Darcy. It's nice to meet you," Jane said.

Oh yes, Lizzy thought. Very nice indeed.


	4. Interactions and Parties

A/N: Something weird happened last chapter with the "AND" signs. They didn't show up. Don't ask me why, I put them in. Technology and I have a sketchy relationship at best. I think we need counseling. So, sorry about that, and I'm going to try something with this chapter that may or may not work, and may or may not be very annoying. We'll just have to wait and see.

Nebula: "Amadeus." I've heard of that. Maybe I will go see it.

Anti-botox: Thank ya muchly.

Sorcha: Don't worry, I have a plan regarding the Evil Sisters of Bingly. One of which you will find out in this chapter.

Anianka: Aw! Thank you so much. I'm all blushy and red.

Tinkoo: Your welcome. I understand the need for a fix after you've just finished a good book.

Lucie: Thank you. And yeah, I know the idea's not original, but I tried to come at it in a different way.

CHAPTER 4

She wasn't what Darcy had expected when Charlie had described her when he'd come back to Netherfield. His PR Rep. had described Elizabeth Bennet still wearing her pajamas and implying that D&andD Inc. had come in to act like an invading hoard. Darcy had been expecting someone older, brasher, and lazy, not a semi-professionally dressed, sharp-tongued young woman. This same young woman now smirked at him from behind the counter of the small coffee shop, with her entrepreneuing relative beside her.

"Hello," Darcy addressed the dark-haired sister. "I take it you're Jane." When she nodded, still offering her friendly smile, he had to admit that his friend had good taste. Jane was quite pretty, and she seemed sweeter than her sister. He turned his attention to the DJ and looked her over again. "And Elizabeth Bennet. You're somewhat different than what I had envisioned."

"Happy to be a surprise," she returned. Her brown eyes crinkled with inappropriate humor.

Darcy cleared his throat and straightened his tie again. "Jane—I can call you by your first name, yes?" She nodded again. "Jane, then. Could you make my friend's order to go? We need to get back to the office for a meeting with the art designer."

"What are you having designed?" Jane asked while she got the Styrofoam containers to hold the soup and sandwich that Charlie had ordered.

"The new logo for the radio station," Charlie answered.

"You're changing our logo!"

Darcy raised an eyebrow at Elizabeth Bennet's outburst, but Charlie disregarded it without so much as a surprised blink. "Mm-hm. My sister—who's the chief art director—said that thought the current logo was 'too 1985,' to use her exact words."

"Well, we can see she listens to Bowling For Soup," Elizabeth muttered. Jane gave her a scolding glance as she headed back through the door to the kitchen. Elizabeth took in a deep breath and let it out. "Well, I guess the logo was a little outdated. A new one wouldn't be so bad. As long as the colors don't clash, and the design isn't horrible, a new logo might be worth it."

"Your confidence in us is inspiring, Elizbeth," Darcy drawled.

"Please," she corrected with the smirk firmly fixed on her mouth, "it's _Ms._ Bennet. Ms. has a little more umph than Miss, don't you think?"

Neither man had a chance to say anything before Jane came back with Charlie's club sandwich and the lidded Styrofoam bowl of vegetable soup. "Here you go, Charlie. I hope you like it. I'm sorry it took so long."

"Really, it's no problem," Charlie told her. "I'm sure it's well worth the wait."

"Still…." Jane faded off. "Anyway, enjoy the food, and come back and visit soon."

"Charlie," Darcy quietly called his attention back. "We still have that meeting."

"Hm? Yeah! Yes, of course." He turned back to Jane. "I'll see you again, I'm sure." He smiled and took his lunch. "Bye, Jane. G'bye _Ms_. Bennet."

Lizzy smiled and waved him off. She didn't bother to correct him this time. He wouldn't call her by her first name until he was ready, and she didn't want to lose the ground she'd taken from Mr. Darcy. "Buh-bye, Charlie. Mr. Darcy."

"_Ms_. Bennet, Jane," Darcy echoed, and then turned from the counter to follow Charles Bingly out to the waiting town car.

When the door jingled shut behind the two men, Jane turned to her sister. "Did you have to be so mean to him? He _is_ your new boss, you know."

"I was _not_ mean," Lizzy argued, rounding the counter to sit on the customer side. "I was perfectly civil considering what he said about me. And about _you_, for that matter. He called me, and I quote, a 'shock jock.' Who even uses terminology like that to talk unless their selling something? And he said that because _Jane's_ is a small business, no wonder the service was slow, as if you hadn't had to wait for the soup to finish cooking."

"Well, Lizzy, he's a big businessman. He's used to getting coffee at Starbuck's, and his food at fifty-dollar-a-course restaurants. Of course he's a little…impatient."

"His problem's not little, and the phrase you were looking for was 'stuck up'." Elizabeth played with the tops of the plastic stir-sticks. "You're way too nice, Jane. The guy's a jerk."

Jane rolled her eyes. "I'm going to wait to give my opinion on him, thank you. How about we pick a new topic?"

"Sounds good to me. Soooo, you and Charlie the PR guy, huh? Woo-woo." Jane blushed and tried to land a swat on Lizzy's shoulder. "Janey, I'm jealous. He's cute, sweet, successful, _not_ condescending. He's a keeper, Miss Jane Anne Bennet. But you might not want to tell Mom until you've had a few dates. You know how over-eager she gets when we bring home guys."

"Elizabeth, I swear! You're just as bad, you know!"

"Me? The eternal Daddy's Girl! How do you figure?"

"I meet this guy once—and did you notice the lack of him asking me out—and you already have us dating," Jane pointed out.

"Oh, I was only teasing."

"Don't you need to be somewhere?"

Lizzy stuck her tongue out at her sister. "Actually, yes. I stopped by to ask if you wanted anything at the grocery store. I was going to stop before I went home." They swapped preferences for the next week's dinners for another five minutes before Elizabeth left the café to restock their refrigerator.

The next morning at the MKW radio station, Lizzy retold the story of what happened the day before at the coffee shop to Charlotte before she went on air. "I'm serious, this guy a) has no taste; b) can't think of an insult worth a damn; and c) compared _me_—_us_—to the Howard Stern show. Honestly, does it look like we have Beautiful Bouncing Bimbos in here?"

Charlotte snickered. "Oh! We could get us some Man-Ho's. That would be fun."

"You think management would let us?" Lizzy asked with a conspiratorial grin.

They both laughed, and Charlotte agreed that the new owner of MKW 101.3 was a jerk, and had no sense of humor. "Hey, we better get going. Looks like Rob and Dylan are almost done in there." Charlotte pointed through the sound-proof glass into the studio where the midnight-to-five guys wrapped up their on-air stint. True to her prediction, both men lumbered out of the studio sleepy eyed a minute later.

" 'Night, ladies," Rob said as he started down the hall. Dylan just nodded and added a little grunt by means of hello and good-bye.

"Good night, guys," Lizzy called after them. "See you tomorrow."

Charlotte waved.

Once inside and hooked up, Lizzy quickly read over the notes and memos that had come in for the DJ's to recite on-air. New sponsor…new movie promo…stop bad-mouthing the new check-payers…and, finally, the advertisement for the local festival. Elizabeth grinned at the last one. This was one of her favorite times of year.

The recorded track that had been playing rolled to a stop and Charlotte gave Lizzy a thumbs-up to signal that she was live. The disc jockey smiled into space and welcomed the earliest risers into the waking world. She felt their pain. "But," she added, "I have some good news. We are now, officially, only two weeks away from the Merriton fall festival. Yeah, the End-of-Summer A'Fair is coming up on August 19th -21st, down on Main Street. Everyone's gonna be there, and you don't want to miss out, do you? What's going to happen if you don't show up, you ask? Well, we're just going to have to talk about you behind your back. Plus, we'll make you eat bugs later. See? You have to come. No one wants to be made fun of, and then have to eat a worm."

Charlotte chuckled from inside the producer's box. Leave it to Lizzy to think up a promotion like that.

&&&&&

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POST-A/N: This chap was kind of short. I'll try to do better next time.


	5. Colin and Catering

A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry it's taken so long. I'm a horrible person, I know. I'll try to be better with updates now that it's summer and I'll have more time to work on my stories.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I'm sure I had stuff to say back, but I don't have the internet at home, so I can't remember what you all said, and what I wanted to say. I'll get you all next time!

CHAPTER 5

The week was shaping up to be shitty. Very shitty. Lizzy hoped that the streak of bad luck she was having wouldn't affect the End-of-Summer A'Fair on Saturday, but by Wednesday she wasn't counting on it.

On Sunday she had met her father's new partner in the accounting firm, Colin Hogarth. He was medium height, pudgy, and had a pug nose in a wide face dominated by a wide mouth. His eyes were covered by wire-rimmed glasses, and his squinting made Lizzy feel like she was being appraised and judged whenever Colin looked at her. When he smiled at her, she couldn't help staring at his teeth. His left front tooth was crooked. Lizzy liked to think that she wasn't such a shallow person that she judged them on the way they looked, but she had to admit, Colin's looks certainly weren't helping him.

"So, why are you here on a Sunday?" she asked him from one of the client seats across the desk from where Mr. Bennet sat in his leather swivel chair.

"Oh, not for work, if that is what you were wondering." He smiled at her again. "I am simply here to get a feel for the way your father works. It is always good to have a sense of the atmosphere of your work place before you go on your first day. I heard this from an inspirational speaker that my last company brought in one day."

"Ah."

Was it her, or was he leering at her? It was subtle…and it could just be the way he squinted…but it definitely _felt_ like he was leering at her. She looked at her dad for help, but he just sat back in his chair and watched, a mean little smirk on his face.

"Right, so," she tried again to start the conversation, "admittedly, I don't know much about accounting. Is it like being a lawyer, where you can bring some of your clients with you when you change firms, or…what?"

"Not usually," he said and leaned forward in the chair next to her. Lizzy was thankful for the arm rests that kept some sort of distance between them. He needed a Tic-Tac or five. "I, however, have managed to retain one loyal client who has contracted me to do you personal finances since she first came to the area several years ago. Mrs. Catherine De Bourg is originally from the South, but she moved here several years ago because of business ties. She has recently acquired—"

"Wait wait wait." Elizabeth waved her hands in front of her to stop him. "Did you say, _De Bourg?_ As in D&D Inc.? _That_ De Bourg?"

"Why yes," Colin said, beginning to absolutely glow.

"Actually, Lizzy, that's one of the main reasons I agreed to work with Colin," Mr. Bennet said. "My clients are all local. It's nice to get such a big name attached to my firm. I'm very thankful for Colin's contribution."

"Why, thank you, Mr. Bennet." Colin grinned under his new partner's praise. "I do what I can. You," he turned back to Lizzy, "know of Mrs. De Bourg's company, then?"

"You could say that."

"I am glad to see how impressed you are with my contacts, Elizabeth." If it was possible, his smile actually widened. His back teeth were in need of a good bleaching. "Perhaps we should get together outside of the office," he wheezed a laugh at his joke, "to get to know each other better?"

Robert Bennet coughed to cover up a surprised snort. Lizzy shot him a nasty look that he matched with an amused glint in his eyes. When she turned back to Colin, she did her best to put a smile on her face. It was tight and resembled a grimace more than a smile. "Mmnh. Maybe. Right now, I have to go. I'll see you later, Dad."

She got out of that house as fast as she could, nearly running her little sisters over as she backed out of the driveway.

"Lizzy!"

"Jeeze, Elizabeth!" Lydia flipped her finger at the back of the retreating green VW. "Watch where you're driving!"

On Monday Elizabeth tripped down the last stairs on the bottom flight in her apartment building and lightly twisted her ankle. She was late for work, and Rob Roarke, the over night DJ, had to stay late to make up for it.

"Lizzy! You're late!" Charlotte hissed when her friend limped through the door of the control room. Immediately her expression changed from annoyed to concern when she noticed the hindered walking. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I tripped coming down the stairs this morning. I don't think it's more than a little strain, but it hurts like hell."

Charlotte winced in sympathy and signaled Dan through the headphones that his replacement was here. He signed off and Lizzy got on with her job, keeping her foot elevated on the empty guest chair for the rest of her shift.

On Tuesday—oh joy—her VW Bug started making unhappy noises at her. She got in the car to drive to work at about 4:40 AM, as usual, and turned the key in the ignition.

"WrrrrRRRrru-hu-hu-hu."

"That didn't sound good," Lizzy said into the faint predawn light that crept through her windshield and windows. She tried the key again, and after a second the ignition turned over and she was fine for the rest of the day.

On Wednesday, Elizabeth was on the road near _Jane's_ when the Bug made a new noise, "WUHRrrunnnnng-guguguguggu. RRrrrrr!" and started to slow down. Lizzy pulled over quickly and turned the car off. She waited for a few minutes, freaked out and not sure what she was going to do if her car broke down. She didn't think she had enough money in her account to get it fixed right now. Luckily, the car started almost immediately when she turned the key again.

"Janey!" she whined when she finally got to the café. "My car might be broken."

"So get it fixed," her sister said.

"We get paid monthly, and I don't get another check for another two weeks. I'm running low as it is."

"Sorry, hon, but I've got my own expenses." Jane gave her a sad smile to try and gentle her words.

"Yeah, yeah." Lizzy pouted. "Just gimme some coffee and a muffin."

"That, I can do." When Jane handed her sister the steaming cup of coffee and a banana nut muffin, she cleared her throat, eyes lowered. "Um, actually, I wanted to ask your opinion on something."

"Mm?" Lizzy took a careful sip.

"You remember Charlie Bingly, right?"

Elizabeth's eyebrows lifted. "He asked you out! You asked him out? You're going out!"

"No, no!" Jane shook her head and waved her hands to negate her sister's assumption. Her face was dark pink. "We're not going out. At least not yet." She smiled. "Actually, he asked if I catered."

"Catered?"

"D&D is having a party at Netherfield House and Charlie asked if I would cater it for them."

Lizzy swallowed her mouthful of coffee. She set the cup in her hands down on the counter. And then she stared at her sister a minute. "Are you nuts!"

"Lizzy!"

"You've never catered before. Why should you start now for those high-brow, big named jerks!"

"Elizabeth! You shouldn't be so harsh on them. Charlie just asked if I would do it. I haven't said yes or no yet. I wanted your opinion. Please note, I said _opinion_, as in your thoughts, which may or may not influence my decision."

"Well then my opinion is that it's a crummy idea." She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "It's ridiculous that he just assumed that because you serve coffee that you'll bend over backwards to make food for people and act like a maid."

"That's not what he meant at all!" Jane defended.

A tense silence between the twins followed. Others in the café tried to appear like they weren't listening in.

"Well, I'm actually thinking about doing it," Jane announced quietly, wiping an imaginary spot on her white counter with a rag. "It might be nice to branch out into catering. And besides, if I had the extra money, I could help you pay to get your car fixed!"

"Oh, sure, pull that on me," Lizzy grumbled.

"It's the truth, isn't it?" she pushed. "You need your car fixed, and I'd like the extra money."

Lizzy kept up the petulance for another minute, but she couldn't resist the dig Jane had left herself wide open for. "You'd also like the time with Charlie, huh?"

Score! Jane blushed again and went down the counter to check on one of her other customers. Lizzy gave into a little triumphant smile, and took a bite of her muffin. Her sister was a good cook, she had to admit that. Maybe she should take the job. Lizzy did need to have her car fixed. She could pay Jane back when she got her next paycheck.

When her sister came back from the far end of the counter, more composed now, Lizzy sighed, leaning in, and frowned thoughtfully at her. "If you do go and do this whole catering thing…just be sure that you don't let them treat you like a servant, alright? You might be making their food, but _they_ are paying _you._ Don't forget that, and don't you let _them_ forget that. Okay?"

Jane grinned at her sister and leaned across the table to smack a kiss on Lizzy's cheek. "You know I won't."

"So when is the big shindig?" Lizzy asked, picking her coffee back up and taking a big drink now that the hot liquid had cooled off.

"It's next Friday night. I guess I'll be rounding up help for the next week. You think the girls will mind carrying trays?"

"Mary might do it, but I wouldn't count on Lydia or Kitty." Elizabeth smirked. "Unless of course you tell them that a lot of rich, handsome men will be milling around. Then they might volunteer. Of course, they wouldn't be helping so much as standing around flirting. I don't think that's what you want.

"No, not exactly," Jane agreed. "I wonder what I should charge for my catering services. And what I should pay my helpers. Maybe I should call a real catering company and ask them how much they charge, then use their figures."

"Sneaky." Lizzy snorted. "And then you could call up Dad's new partner and have him do the math for you."

"Your stalker, you mean?"

"Oh my god! He called and left another message on the machine!" She threw her hands up in the air. "That's already the fourth one this week! I don't know what I'm going to do about him. I'm going to have to get a restraining order. Can you _get_ a restraining order when someone hasn't technically done anything to you?"

Jane chuckled. "I don't think so, Lizzy."

"It's a shame," Lizzy grumbled.

Thursday, 11:02 AM at Netherfield House, in Mr. Darcy's office.

"You hired _who_ to cater for my party?"

"Jane Bennet," Charlie repeated.

"The one who owns that coffee shop you dragged me to?"

"Yes. Her. You don't have to say it like that though."

"Like what?" Darcy asked. "You _did_ drag me, and I was not impressed, so my tone of voice was appropriate."

"It was what you were implying with the tone of voice I didn't like."

"What you mean by that, I assume, is my obvious opinion of hiring a woman you barely know, who does not have any catering experience, to make and serve the food at my party where there will be many of the executives from D&D Inc., all of the employees we have here in Merriton, _and_ a the shareholders of the MKW radio station. Was that what you meant by my 'saying it like that'?"

Charlie flopped down on the couch against the far wall. "That would be what I meant. But come on, Darcy, I'm sure that she'll do fine. And it's not as if we know any of the other catering agencies in town, so whomever we would hire would be some one we didn't know."

Darcy blew out a big breath and slouched in his desk chair. "You could have called around."

"I thought this would be easier."

"You also wanted to spend more time with Jane Bennet," Darcy teased, the side of his mouth quirked up.

Charlie laughed. "I can always set you up with her sister!"

Now it was Darcy's turn to laugh. "Not likely. I have better taste."

_Besides, _he mused, _after last time, she's likely to open fire on sight._

POST-A/N: Sorry if there are any weird mistakes. I try to get them all out, but sometimes I just…don't.


	6. Interesting Conversation

nebula: thanks!

TriGemini: I'll be the first to admit that I don't write confrontational scenes well, so the fireworks might be a little disappointing. Sorry. I'll do my best, though, and any advice you have I'd like to hear.

meri24: Welcome to the story, and thanks! It's such a major compliment to know that I'm doing P&P justice.

Severus-Fan: I'm sorry! I'll try to do better from now on. Promise.

DISCLAIMER: _Vans_ sponsored the Warped Tour, not me. I have no share of _Celebration_, Dave Matthews, Dido, or any of the above's songs. _Pride and Prejudice_ is Jane Austen's. _Sprite _belongs to the Coca-Cola Company. I don't know if there's an I-12 in Massachusetts, and—as far as I know—there's no such band as Living Legend, and so they were definitely _not_ on the Warped Tour.

CHAPTER 6

"The End of Summer A'Fair starts tomorrow morning at 10'o'clock on the main drag between Maple and First. MKW has the _extreme_ honor of being the tune-provider for this big event, so I want to _personally_ see every freaking one of you down there! Got it!"

Darcy rolled his eyes at the voice coming through the radio on his desk at 9:30 in the morning. Must she always be so damn forward and demanding? Ms. Bennet acted as if she owned the town just because she could invade their homes and cars from five AM to noon. He wondered just how excited she would be to know that it was he, with the help of Charlie and his sister, Caroline, who had haggled for days to get MKW to be able to DJ the festival in an attempt to get the station more publicity.

"So what do you think the big attraction this year's going to be?" the other woman on the radio asked. The producer. What was her name? Shirley? Charleen? Charlotte, that was it.

"I don't know. For those of you who didn't go last year (losers!) they had sky-divers land in on the lawn of Town Hall. Unfortunately, one of the guys got stuck in the big oak out front, so I don't think that's what they'll be doing this year."

Her laughter was a welcome sound after the acid Darcy'd encountered at her sister's coffee shop, which – in his opinion- he had not deserved.

"The big wigs who plan this stuff usually try to keep whatever they have planned a secret, so I guess that means that you'll have to come and see for yourself."

"You know, I've always meant to ask: why are you always so hyped about this thing, Lizzy?" the producer asked.

Darcy lifted his head from the report he'd been perusing to listen to the answer Ms. Bennet would give.

"First of all, I just love the festival. Simple as that." Darcy could almost see her shrug as she answered. "I love the fried food, and the games, and the face painting, and the rides they set up in the high school parking lot, and all the commotion. I just love it! And second of all, all of the money that the city makes gets put back into the city. A few years ago the proceeds went to building the new park on Lincoln. Two years ago they gave the city maintenance workers a raise. You know, those people who fix the pot holes, and put plants in the flowerboxes on top of the new light posts they put in (proceeds of _last_ years festival), and the people who clean up the trash we leave for them after the festival. Yeah, those maintenance people. So, all of the money you spend this weekend gets used to make Merriton a cleaner, prettier place to live. _And_ you have lots of fun. I mean, how many other things can you say that about?"

Wow. Good answer.

"Whoo! That was quite the speech I just gave! I hope it inspired some of you who weren't sure whether or not you were going to go to get up off your rears and come party with us. And now, just to put you in the party mood, here's _Celebration_."

The slow strains at the beginning of the rock ballad started, but Darcy was distracted by what he had heard just a moment before. He was still staring off into space when Caroline Bingly walked into his office with the final draft of the new logo for the radio station. Dave Matthews was just fading out of _Gravedigger_.

"Darcy?" No response. Caroline slid over to the big maple wood desk and knocked. "Darcy, darling, _where_ is your mind wandering?"

He snapped back into his own body at her knocking, just in time to catch her use of the word "darling." It made the hairs on the back of his neck raise up. "Sorry, Caroline. What was it you needed?"

"I just came to get your approval of the new logo." She turned the poster-sized print around to reveal a lemon yellow diamond—with curved points—around an interior lime green diamond. The caps that read MKW 101.3 were the same yellow as the outer diamond. It looked electric, and was vaguely frightening. "Well, what do you think?"

"It's very bright."

Caroline's dark pink lipsticked mouth pursed, and she lifted one thin brow. "Well, Darcy, research shows that—"

He took a deep breath through his knows, unnoticed by the woman preaching at him. "Caroline, you didn't let me finish."

Caroline drew her words up short, still tweaked but trying not to show it.

"What I meant was that its brightness is sure to get it noticed. It will draw attention to itself, and to our station."

As Darcy spoke, Caroline's demeanor eased until she returned to her usual self-pleased attitude. "So I have your go-ahead on the release?"

"Of course."

"We were hoping to show the new logo at that thing this weekend. The Summer Fair, or something."

"End of Summer A'Fair," Darcy corrected, listening as Ms. Bennet's voice drifted out of his radio once again.

"Oh, god! You're not actually _listening_ to it, are you!" Caroline screeched with intention of a teasing tone.

"I assumed that since I owned the station, I ought to listen to it," he answered. "If nothing else, it's one more number on the listener pole."

Both stopped talking to listen to the news Elizabeth Bennet shared with her audience. "…on I-12, so be careful if you're on the road. And speaking of being on the road, did anybody go to see the Warped Tour when it was in Boston? If you did, you heard these guys." A new song played in the background, heavy on the guitar and bass. "That's _Drop Dead Gorgeous_, by Living Legend, and they'll be coming to the area this fall. Maybe we'll be able to offer you guys some tickets. Maybe. Maybe maybe. Keep tuned in and find out. You're listening to Mornings with Lizzy Bennet, on MKW 101.3, and now here's Dido, with _White Flag_."

Caroline snorted. "You were so right. She's an ill-educated loudmouth. Such a shame she's so popular with the listeners. I really don't know why. If she wasn't, we could just fire her."

"Caroline, one of the reasons we got this station is because we promised the previous owner that we wouldn't fire anyone simply because we could," Darcy reminded her. "Not to mention, if we did fire her, we would be giving Ms. Bennet exactly the treatment she expected. How would that make us—your brother, in particular—look?"

Caroline looked down at the Persian carpet on the floor, but Darcy caught a glimpse of her mouth working in annoyance before she looked back up at him, her confident smile back in place. "Well, exactly, Darcy. That's what I meant. Really, you should know me better than that."

"Of course. Now, if you don't mind, I need to finish this report, and then we have a meeting at eleven."

"Alright. I'll see you later, then."

He didn't bother looking up when Caroline stalked out of the room on kitty heels and shut the door behind her with a petulant little _snick._

&&&&

That evening, Mrs. Bennet invited her two oldest daughters home for a family dinner. "It's been so long since we were all together. Can't the two of you squeeze a little family time into your busy schedules before you go out to the clubs or whatever you do on Friday nights?" Patricia Bennet was mistress of the guilt trip, and so Lizzy and Jane had dinner with their folks. Which was probably a good thing, since it gave Lizzy the opportunity to share her disgust at the new MKW logo.

"It looks like someone ran electricity through _Sprite_! Lemon-lime mutation!"

"Lizzy, stop being so dramatic," her father told her.

"I'm not dramatic, Dad; I'm shocked and disturbed." Elizabeth stabbed a piece of grilled chicken with her fork. "It's like some weird YEILD sign. I liked the old logo."

Pat cleared her throat and turned to her youngest. "So, Lydia, how was _your_ day?"

"I went down to where they're setting up for the festival—oh, and Kitty was there, too—and there were these guys there, and they were way cute, and one of them was in this so-tight T-shirt that said 'National Guard' on it, and you know how there's that National Guard barracks outside of town? Well, they said they were from there, and then they asked what was going on with the booths and stuff, so we told them and made them promise to come tomorrow! Isn't that great?"

"What were their names?" Jane asked, directing the question at the left out Kitty.

Before the other girl could get her mouth more than halfway open to answer, though, Lydia jumped in. "The one was named Dennis Palmer, and I asked if I could call him Denny, and he said he didn't mind, and the other one was…um…"

"George," Kitty leapt into the hanging space. "His name was George Wickham. He was older, in his late 'twenties, I think."

"Don't be such an attention hog, Kitty, I swear," Lydia snapped. "I would have thought of his name in a minute."

"Girls, I will not have you fighting at the table," Mrs. Bennet warned, but was, as usual, incapable of following through with.

"No you wouldn't have, Lydia. You were so into _Denny_ you hardly noticed George was there at all."

"That's not true! I remember that he said I had cute sandles."

"Tsh! Whatever."

Lydia stuck her tongue out at her sister.

"How was your day, Jane?" Mr. Bennet moved the subject into safer waters.

"Mine was good." Jane smiled. "I was kind of busy today. I'm still trying to find some good recipes to make food for the party at Netherfield I'm catering next week."

Mrs. Bennet turned her head, her romance-radar homing in on her eldest's life. "That's right. You were talking to that guy Charlie that your sister scared away."

"Mom!"

"And, how are things going with him?" Patricia asked.

"Well," Jane colored slightly, "he was in the café today, and we talked. He said he planned on going to the festival tomorrow. I told him I hoped to see him there." She shrugged. "Maybe I will."

Four women at the table "Ooohed!" at Jane. The fifth was busy reading John Locke. Mr. Bennet turned to Mary. "How was your day?"

"Fine."

"Lovely," he returned. "I'm going to go to my office. Send me my dessert in there, if you please."

"Robert!"

Mr. Bennet ignored her, and reached for his glasses in his shirt pocket.

"I'll bring you in some icecream later, Dad," Elizabeth promised.

"Thank you, Lizzy. Oh!" Mr. Bennet turned around, his glasses in hand, nearly to his face. "I almost forgot. I told Colin about the End of Summer A'Fair, and he said he'd be there. He told me to tell you, Lizzy, that he can't wait to see you again."

"_Dad!_"

Mr. Bennet chuckled as he turned back to his office.

"Just how did he get my phone number, anyway? Dad! You can forget that icecream!"

"Elizabeth," her mother called her attention. "You didn't tell me you were seeing your father's business partner! Why don't you ever tell me these things? I swear, you would probably get married and not tell me until I forced you to come home for Christmas one year."

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POST-A/N: I thought that was a good place to leave off. Again, sorry it took so long. I know, I know. I'm a horrible person. I feel your pain.


End file.
